


Aftermath

by StarsGarters



Category: Purge: Anarchy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Digital Art, F/M, Sequel, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 21:17:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1998162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsGarters/pseuds/StarsGarters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once again, it is Purge Night. Eva Sanchez and her daughter Cali settle in to endure another endless night while Leo does stupid things again, like getting out of the car...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

 

Eva Sanchez and her daughter Cali adjusted the shutters on their armored barricades, checked their well-armed stockpile of weapons and strapped on their kevlar vests.

It was inevitably Purge Night again. The date crept closer and closer, but this year they were prepared. 

Poppi hadn't lied. Once Eva had recovered enough to even contemplate the humdrum activities of daily living, she found $100,000 dollars in her bank account that wasn't there before. She had been tempted to give it away or do something wildly self-destructive with it, but she had to be strong. Strong enough for Cali to lean on. It wasn't right for a mother to lean on her own daughter's strength like she had been. So they moved out of the projects with their memories and whatever had not been trampled under the jack-boots of the government thugs, to the relatively safer apartments in the suburbs. Cali even joined the school choir and was prepping with advanced college courses. She was indeed something special and Eva was going to protect her, no matter what.

Eva worked part-time at the high school front office, she had a talent for dealing with head-strong teenagers that weren't her own progeny. Cali was very proud of her mother making this new life for them, but nightmares still woke her up in the middle of the night. She'd stopped screaming, at least. Now she'd bury her face in the covers and sob until her chest ached.

When Eva wasn't around, Cali would take out a flat box from under her bed and strap on Leo's kevlar vest reverently, then close her eyes very tightly. Someone out there thought that she was worth saving, protecting and Cali was going to make him proud. Even if he had vanished.

After turning on the alarm, Cali went straight back to her laptop and began watching the newest video uploaded by Carmello and his group of anti-Purgers, but she did turn down the volume a little bit to avoid upsetting Eva. The light from the screen flickered in her eyes and Eva frowned.

"Why do you keep watching those? Don't you want to just forget?"

"Besides the fact that they saved our lives?" Cali shut the lid and rubbed her face with her hands. "I keep looking for Liz. Why didn't we ever ask their last names? I really hope she made it. You know, back to her old life." The hope in her voice was touching, Eva smiled and nodded.

"Me too sweetie. Me too."

"I thought I saw Leo the other day, at my choir concert." Cali sighed. "Way in the back, during my solo."

"Really? Then he heard the best part of that concert. Rebecca was completely flat. I thought you'd been practicing with her." Eva started the dishwasher and made sure the generator was full.

They had parted ways when a barely healed Leo had checked out of the hospital, against medical advice. Eva understood why he'd done it. The Founding Fathers wouldn't rest until they found him. He'd violated the unspoken rules of The Purge, _no saving lives_ , _no heroes_. When security camera footage showed up on the internet of Leo rescuing them, Eva blamed Carmello for the leak, it was no longer safe to be around him. Carmello was just as bad as the government in her opinion. Sure, she was grateful for their help that horrible night but when they'd used Leo... _Betrayed_ him to further their cause... Eva shook her head.

Cali had been devastated, Leo was her proof that humanity could be saved, that life was worth cherishing. They'd camped out in his hospital room with the blessing of the staff once they'd explained what he had done. For someone as deliberately isolated as Leo, their constant company was a revelation. There was a good man under all that bluster and drive. And not a bad looking one either, when he laughed at Cali's jokes his face lit up in delighted joy. Eva thought about that often, his smile lingered in her late night reveries. 

Eva understood that his disappearance was his way of telling them that he cared deeply about them. Eva touched her lips unconsciously, thinking about the kisses they'd shared one dark evening while Cali slept on a sleeping bag on the hospital floor. Maybe they'd just been reaffirming life, making sure that their hearts still functioned after being so brutally beaten down. It was silly to think about that. Poppi had told her to find a good man, but in the middle of The Purge? Eva softly sighed. She had the  _worst_ timing.

The sirens wailed and the loudspeakers mounted on power lines announced the commencement. Cali opened her laptop and brought up the security camera feed. "I'll take first watch, okay Mom?"

Eva made sure her pistol was secured in the holster. She wasn't ever going to leave her weapon on the kitchen table again. She thought about her shooting range lessons. She imagined riot suited police thugs, white people in tuxedos and face-painted thugs for her practice sessions. Her instructor had been impressed with how quickly she'd improved. She wasn't going to be helpless again. Cali didn't need to know about the lessons and she'd never mentioned the slight odor of gunpowder or the slide-bite on Eva's hand. "Okay."

"Do you think about Poppi, Mom?"

"Everyday sweetheart. Everyday. He'd be so proud of you."

"I wish he could have met Leo. I think they would have liked each other. Almost as much as you liked him." Cali grinned.

"What?" Eva looked at her daughter, Cali's bright eyes twinkled. Too sharp for her own good. 

"You played with his hair Mom. In the car, on the way to the hospital. I _saw_ you. And then you both acted all _squirrelly_ before he left. I'm _not_ stupid." 

"Well... he had _really_ nice hair. Didn't he?" Eva laughed, unapologetically.

Cali returned the laugh. "Yeah. He did." She whispered to the laptop screen, "Stay safe, Leo. Stay safe."

\--

Leo was not staying safe. Not by any measure of the word. He cruised downtown in his repaired armored Challenger, this time with the license plates removed. That had been such a _rookie_ mistake, but how could he have known that the government was tracking him?

At first, he'd hoped that it had been over. That he was freed from his crippling guilt and anger. And there was Eva and Cali... A chance for a new start, possibly a _family_ again. What a damned foolish hope, his guts twisted up thinking about what he had possibly lost again. Cali sang like an angel and Eva, she looked so proud and _good_ and he wasn't going to think about that...

 _Vigilante_. That's what they called him, even put a price on his head. Not playing by the rules on the night when anarchy was supposed to reign had cost him dearly this past year, but he'd do it all over again. In a heartbeat, no hesitation. His life had been turned upside down by that one decision, but he grinned with white teeth in the darkness.

"Stay in the car. Just drive. Stick to the plan." He said to himself over and over again like a mantra, no longer believing in the words, scanning the streets for people who needed help.  The government wanted to find him? They wanted to make him pay for being a decent fucking human being? Then _fine_ , he'd save them the trouble of hunting him down. He listened for the sound of semi trucks. Would they really come back? Sheer stupid arrogance almost guaranteed it. There were always men like Big Daddy looking to settle a score. "Stay in the car. Just drive. Stick to the plan."

Screams in the alley. Female screams. "Please god! No! PLEASE!" Leo turned off the car, slung his assault rifle over his shoulder and then locked the car behind him. Never know who would sneak into the backseat if you left it unlocked on Purge Night. They'd been good people, Liz and Shane. Shane hadn't deserved to die like that, riddled with bullets in the rich people's shooting gallery.

Good people didn't last long tonight, but Leo wasn't a _good_ person. Maybe if he saved a few more lives, maybe he could sleep at night without waking up in a cold sweat. _Eva and Cali thought he was a good person, but they didn't really know anything about him..._

Leo carefully peered around the corner of the alley and sighted on a woman screaming, crouched beside a dumpster. She was _alone_. Leo was confused for a moment and then she stood up and smiled at him. "Hello Leo. Remember me?" It was Liz. Her long hair was pulled back in a braid, she was armed to the teeth and kevlar clad. Her smile was warm and welcoming. 

Bewildered, Leo looked around and finally saw the line of snipers lining the rooftop alleyway. "Nice ambush," he tried to slowly back out of the alley, but Liz held up her hand. 

"Not an ambush. A welcoming party. I wanted to be the one who brought you back to Carmello. Seems only fair, you saved my life over and over again last year. So I'm going to save yours."

"I don't need help surviving."

"Oh yes you do. You're a symbol now. The Hero of Purge Night. Haven't you seen the news? You're the stuff of comic books, Leo. A shadowy vigilante that swoops down to save the innocent. And they want to snuff out your flame so it doesn't spark a wildfire. Sure, Carmello speaks the truth, but people don't like listening to the truth. They can close their ears and shut their eyes. But when you, a single man, when you step in to save a total stranger... that is something people can't ignore. It worms into their hearts, festers in their brains. And if we could find you this easily, lure you into a trap, what makes you think the next alley wouldn't be riddled with government flunkies?"

Liz walked closer to Leo, she put her hand on his weapon and lowered it. "You're good at surviving Purge Night, Leo, but not that smart the rest of the year." Liz touched Leo's face, "You were right, you know. What you told Shane. It really does hurt like a _sonuvabitch_." She took his arm and waved at her men, "Come on Leo. We have to protect what's important to us."

"And what's that?" 

"Life. Liberty. The American Way." Liz bobbed her head and shrugged, "Bit cliche, of course. Let's make it a bit more personal. _Cali_. _Eva_. Did you think that running away would save them too? Get in the car, we've got to get to the suburbs before they do. I've sent reinforcements out early, just in case, but I really think you want to be there. You do love playing the hero."

"I'm not your symbol. I'm not your hero." 

"You just keep telling yourself that. Heros are made, not born. That's what Carmello says."

"So you believe in his revolution?"

"I believe in fire and pain. And I want to set those bastards on fire and listen to them scream. Sure, it won't bring Shane back, but I'm okay with that." Leo was silent, but he unlocked the car. "Got any good music in this heap? Really, it does look like you commissioned a high school metal shop to trick it out. Come on Leo, this is going to be _fun_. You get to be the knight in shining armor again and we'll document it all for posterity." Leo swallowed hard. A chill ran down his spine.

"You're going to use Cali and Eva as _bait_?" They both got in the car and a baklava clad man handed Liz a heavy duffle bag that clanked when she sat it on the floor. 

"Honey, they were always targets from the moment they were born. Now, because of you, they can at least fight back." Liz patted him on the leg. "You told them to take care of me, Leo. Don't you think they did a bang up job?" Leo started the engine and it roared to life. Over and over he chanted in his head, Stay in the car. Just drive. Stick to the plan. Well what was the plan now? 

_Save Cali and Eva._

He pressed the accelerator to the floor, the tires squealed towards the nearest onramp. God help anyone who chose to get in his way tonight. Liz leaned the passenger seat back and nodded in approval. It was going to be a rough night, but Leo felt a predatory grin peel back his lips. Liz echoed his smile in the darkness.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments gratefully and cheerfully accepted!


End file.
